Energy and the Human Journey: Where We Have Been; Where We Can Go - Wade Frazier

[Magda Hassan]

Energy and Chemistry

Chapter summary:

• Energy may be best seen as motion
  
  
• Electron shells, how they are filled, and reactivity
  
  
• Helium and the noble gases
  
  
• Electron energy and quantum leaping
  
  
• Temperature
  
  
• How atoms react
  
  
• Elements in the human body
  
  
• Types of electron bonds, including hydrogen bonds
  

This chapter presents several energy and chemistry concepts essential to this essay. Even though scientists do not really know what energy is (they do not know what light or gravity are, either), energy is perhaps best seen as motion, whether it is a photon flying through space, the "orbit" of an electron around an atom's nucleus or of Earth around the Sun, an object falling to Earth, a river flowing toward the ocean, air moving through Earth's atmosphere, rising and falling tides, and blood moving through a heart.
In their dance around an atom's nucleus, electrons exist in "shells." The most stable electron configuration exists when the electrons fill the shells and each electron is paired with another, with each electron spinning in the opposite direction of its partner. The classical view of an electron had an electron orbiting the nucleus much in the same way that Earth orbits the Sun, but quantum theory presents a different picture, where an electron is a wave that only appears to be a particle when it is observed. Even then, a hydrogen electron's orbit as presented by quantum theory does not look much different from the classical image, and the classical view largely suffices for this essay in presenting the energetic aspects of the electrons' properties.
When one electron shell is filled, electrons begin to fill shells farther from the nucleus. For the simplest atoms it works that way, but for larger atoms, particularly those of metallic elements, electrons fill shells in more complex fashion; electrons begin to fill subshells not necessarily in the shell closest to the nucleus. When an electron is unpaired or in an unfilled shell, it can be a valence electron, which can form bonds with other atoms. In most circumstances, only unpaired electrons form bonds with other atoms. Electron bonds between atoms provide the basis for chemistry and life on Earth.
For that simplest element, hydrogen, its lone electron has an affinity to pair up with another electron, and that smallest shell contains two electrons. Hydrogen is never found in its monoatomic state in nature, but is bonded to other elements, as that lone electron finds another one to pair with, which also fills that simplest shell. In its pure state in nature, hydrogen is found paired with itself and forms a diatomic molecule. In chemistry notation, it is presented as H[SUB]2[/SUB]. The most common hydrogen combination with another element on Earth is with oxygen ("O" in chemistry notation), forming water, or presented as H[SUB]2[/SUB]O. Oxygen has two unpaired electrons in its electron shell (its outer shell has eight positions for electrons, with six of them filled), and oxygen's electrons pair with electrons in other atoms with a "hunger" that is only surpassed by fluorine, which is the most reactive known element. With the "hungriest" atoms, they can completely strip an electron from nearby atoms and form ions, whereby the resulting atoms have imbalances between their electrons and protons and thus possess net electric charges. An atom that loses an electron in a chemical reaction is called "oxidized," while the atom that gains one is called "reduced." When electrons are transferred or shared, those hungriest atoms will cause the greatest amounts of energy to be released in the reactions. Fluorine is so reactive that if it were sprayed on water, the water would burn.
The element with two protons in its nucleus is helium (the number of protons determines what element the atom is), and its electrons are both paired and its shell is filled. Consequently, helium does not want to share its electrons with anything. Helium is the most non-reactive element known. It has never bonded with any other elements, even fluorine. In the periodic table of the elements, helium is in the family known as noble gases (formerly named "inert"), because they resist reacting with other atoms. Their electron shells are completely filled.
An electron's distance from the nucleus can vary. It is not a smooth variation of distance, but only certain distances are possible. When an electron changes its distance, it jumps in a process known as quantum leaping. That quantum leaping reflects how electrons gain or release energy. When light hits an atom, if it is absorbed by an electron, the photon gives the electron the energy to move to an orbit farther away. When an electron emits light, that lost photon removes energy and the electron falls to a lower orbit. The potential energy in the electron as it orbits the nucleus and the potential energy in a rock that I hold above the ground are similar, as the diagram below demonstrates.

Below is a diagram of a hydrogen atom as its electron orbits farther from the nucleus when it absorbs energy.

As the diagram depicts, the atom gets larger. When an electron moves into an orbit farther from the nucleus, the atom will vibrate more, like the way a car's engine will vibrate more when it runs faster. Lateral movement (also called translational motion) is called temperature. While finding an accurate definition of temperature can be a frustrating experience, temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy (the energy of motion) in matter. As with the behavior of photons, at the atomic level the concept of temperature can break down, and classical behaviors emerge as groups of atoms lose their quantum properties.[39] When one atom collides with another, there is a transfer of energy, as there is in any collision. The transferred energy can be stored by the electrons leaping into higher orbits. They can in turn release that energy in the form of photons and return to lower orbits.
The increased movement of heated atoms is why substances expand in volume. The more motion, the higher the temperature, and just as an engine will fly apart when the RPMs go too high, when an atom vibrates too fast, an electron can leave the atom entirely, and the atom then becomes an ion. As substances become hotter, the electrons will be in higher orbits, and will fall farther when giving off photonic energy, so the photons have more energy (shorter wavelengths). Get a substance hot enough and it will emit photons that we can see (visible light). Those first visible photons will be on the lower end of the spectrum of light that we can see with our eyes, and will be red. Get the substance hotter and the light can turn white, which means that we are seeing the full visible spectrum of light. Most of the Sun's energy output is in the form of visible light. Get matter hot enough and it becomes plasma, where electrons float in a soup with nuclei. Those electrons are too energetic to be captured by nuclei and placed into shells.
When two atoms come close to each other, if the potential energy of their combined state is less than their potential energy when they are separate, the atoms will tend to react. But the reaction only happens when the electron shells come into an alignment where the reaction can happen. It is an issue of alignment and the atoms' velocity. If the shells do not meet in the proper alignment and velocity, the reaction will not happen and the atoms will bounce away from each other. The faster and more often the atoms collide, the likelier they are to react and reach that lower energy state. Chemical (electron shell) reactions need to reach their activation energy to occur, and this is measured in temperature. The activation energy for hydrogen and oxygen to react and form water is about 560 degrees Celsius (560[SUP]o [/SUP]C). Nuclear reactions work in similar fashion, but for nuclear fusion in the Sun's core, at 16 million degrees Celsius, at a pressure 340 billion times greater than Earth's atmosphere at sea level, in 10 billion years at one trillion collisions per second, a proton has a 50% chance of fusing with another proton.[40] Nuclear fusion is thus far rarer than electron bonding, and far less energy is released when atoms bond via electrons. The fusion of a helium nucleus releases more than a million times the energy that it takes to ionize a hydrogen atom. As will be discussed later, some reactions have a cumulative result of absorbing energy, while others release it. The first can be seen as an investment of energy, while the second can be seen as consuming it. Organisms and civilizations have always faced the investment/consumption decision.
Below is a diagram of two hydrogen atoms before and after reaction, where they bond to form H[SUB]2[/SUB].

Elements with their electron shells mostly, but not completely, filled are, in order of electronegativity: fluorine, oxygen, chlorine, and nitrogen. In that upper right corner of the periodic table, of largely filled electron shells, phosphorus and sulfur also reside. Carbon and hydrogen have their valence shells half filled. With the exception of fluorine, those elements listed above provide virtually all of the human body's atoms. The body also contains metals, particularly sodium, magnesium, calcium, and iron, that "donate" electrons and make key chemical reactions possible. Fluorine forms the smallest negatively charged ions known to science and wrecks organic molecules for reasons discussed later in this essay. Organisms do not use fluorine, except for some plants that use it as a poison.
When atoms combine through shared electrons (called "covalent" bonds), the electrons are not always shared equally. The classic example of this is the water molecule. Oxygen "hogs" the electrons that the hydrogen atoms share with it. Because those electrons spend more time in the oxygen atoms electron shell than they do in the hydrogen atoms' electron shells, the oxygen atom in a water molecule will get a negative charge to it, and the hydrogen atoms will get positive charges. The charges will not be as strong as if they were ionized atoms, but those charges "polarize" the molecule. In a body of water, oxygen atoms will attract hydrogen atoms of neighboring molecules, and a relatively weak attraction known as a hydrogen bond forms. Below is a picture of hydrogen bonds in water. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)


Those hydrogen bonds make water the miraculous substance that it is. The unusual surface tension of water is due to hydrogen bonding. Water has a very high boiling point for its molecular weight (compare the boiling points of water and carbon dioxide, for instance) because of that hydrogen bonding. Water's unique properties made it the essential medium for biochemical reactions; the human body is mostly made of water.
Those energy and chemistry concepts should make this essay easier to digest.

Timelines of Energy, Geology, and Early Life

Timeline of Significant Energy Events in Earth's and Life's History
Abbreviated Geologic Time Scale

Early Earth Timeline before the Eon of Complex Life

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Significant Energy Events in Earth's and Life's History as of 2014

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Energy Event

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Timeframe

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Significance

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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Nuclear fusion begins in the Sun
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 4.6 billion years ago ("bya")
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Provides the power for all of Earth's geophysical, geochemical, and ecological systems, with the only exception being radioactivity within Earth.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Life on Earth begins
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 3.8 3.5 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Organisms begin to capture chemical energy.
[/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Enzymes appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 3.8 3.5 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Enzymes accelerate chemical reactions by millions of times, making all but the simplest life (pre-LUCA) possible.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Photosynthetic organisms first appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 3.5 3.4 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Organisms begin to directly capture photonic solar energy.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Oxygenic photosynthesis first appears
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 3.5 2.8 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Oxygen is generated, which complex life will later use, which makes non-aquatic life possible and also preserves the global ocean.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Aerobic respiration first appears
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 2.4 1.8 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for more energetic respiration than anaerobic respiration.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Complex cells first appear (eukaryotic)
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 2.1 1.6 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for larger cells and far greater energy generation capacity pound for pound, a complex cell uses energy 100,000 times as fast as the Sun creates it.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First chloroplast created
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 1.6 0.6 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for direct energy capture of complex life, and led to plants.
[/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Dramatic climb in atmospheric oxygen begins, to eventually achieve modern levels, begins
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 850 million years ago ("mya")
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Creates conditions for complex life to appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First animal appears
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 760 to 665 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First large-scale energy users.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Deep oceans oxygenated
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 580 - 560 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Creates conditions for complex life to appear, first in the global ocean.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Cambrian Explosion begins
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 541 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First complex ecosystems appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Teeth appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 540-530 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Concentrated application of muscle energy.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Reef ecosystems appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 513 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The most complex aquatic ecosystem appears.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Land plants appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 470 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Energetic basis for land-based ecosystems appears.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Land animals appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 430-420 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Ability to create non-aquatic ecosystems.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Jaws appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 420 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Greatest energy manipulation enhancement among vertebrates until the rise of humans.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Vascular plants appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 410 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Ability to create vertical ecosystems.
[/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Trees appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 385 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Largest organisms ever, and greatest energy storage and delivery to any biome, and they become the basis for coal.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Fish migrate to land
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 375 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Precursor to dominant land animals.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Seed-reproducing plants appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 375 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Ability to colonize dry lands.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Amniotes appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 320-310 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Ability to survive in dry lands.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Lignin-digesting organism appears
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 290 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Ability to make tree-stored energy available to ecosystems.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Dinosaurs appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 243 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Among the first terrestrial animals with upright posture, enabling great aerobic capacity and domination of terrestrial environments.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Tools first used
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 400-200 mya?
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Conferred energy advantage to tool user.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Flowering plants appear
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 160 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Great energy innovation to reduce reproductive costs, and animals are the beneficiaries, as they act as reproductive enzymes in greatest symbiosis of plant and animal life, which allows flowering plants to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] The control of fire
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 2.0-1.0 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows protohumans to leave trees, become Earth's dominant predator, alter ecosystems, and cooked food helped spur dramatic biological changes, including encephalization in human line.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Projectile weapons invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 400 thousand years ago ("kya")
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Changes the terms of engagement with prey and reduced hunting risk of large animals and increases effectiveness.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Boat invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 60 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for first low-energy transportation, and ability to travel to unpopulated continents.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Widespread domestication of plants and animals
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 10 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Provides the local and stable energy supply that allowed for sedentary human populations and civilization.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First metal smelted
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 7 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for tools highly improved over stone, for greater energy effectiveness of human activities.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Plow invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 7 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for greatly increased energy yields from agriculture.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First sailboat invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 6 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First technology to take advantage of non-biological energy.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Wheel invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 5.5 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Reduces energy use for ground-based transportation.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Coal first burned
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 5-4 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First use of non-biomass for chemical energy.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Iron first smelted
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 4.5 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Allows for vastly improved tools.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Coal used to smelt metal
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 3.0 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First use of non-biomass to smelt metal
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Watermill invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 2.2 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First time the energy of the hydrological cycle is harnessed for use on land.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Windmill invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 2.0 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First time wind is harnessed for use on land.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Steam engine invented
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 2.0 kya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First time the motive power of fire is harnessed.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Europe learns to sail across the world's oceans
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] The years 1420 1522, common era
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Turns global ocean into low-energy transportation lane allows Europe to conquer the world.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First use of coal for smelting metal in England
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1709
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First act of Industrial Revolution
[/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First commercial steam engine built
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1710
[/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First time the motive power of fire is harnessed to perform work.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First practical use of electricity
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 1805
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] New way to use energy would revolutionize civilization.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First commercial oil well drilled
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1859
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The most coveted fuel of the Industrial Revolution is first used.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Incandescent lighting first commercialized
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] c. 1880
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] First commercial use of electricity.
[/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Alternating current technology prevails over direct current
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1891
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The major technical hurdle to electrifying civilization is overcome.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First attempt to create "free energy" technology is abandoned due to lack of funding
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1903
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] This event inaugurates the era of organized suppression of free energy technologies.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] First man-powered flight, and establishment of first company to mass-produce automobiles
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1903
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Major transportation developments begin to be powered by petroleum.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity and equation for converting mass to energy
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1905
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Forms the framework for 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century physics, including the energy that can be liberated from an atom's nucleus.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] British Navy converts from coal to oil
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1911
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Provides incentive for oil-poor United Kingdom to dominate the oil-rich Middle East.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Oil-rich Ottoman Empire dismembered by industrial powers, establishing imperial and neocolonial rule in Middle East
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1918
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The West invades the Middle East and has yet to leave, lured by the oil.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] USA harnesses the atom's power, and first use is vaporizing two cities, and the greatest period of economic prosperity in history begins
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1945
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The nuclear age is born, as well as the Golden Age of American capitalism.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] The USA's national security state is born, Roswell incident
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1947
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] By this time, free energy technology has probably been either developed or acquired.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Electrogravitic research goes black
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1950s
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] This is the final technology, along with free energy technology, to make humanity a universally prosperous and space-faring species.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] The USA reaches Peak Oil
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1970
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The decline in the American standard of living begins.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] Former astronaut nearly dies immediately after rejecting the American military's UFO research "offer"
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1990s
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The incident is one of many that demonstrate that the UFO issue is very real, but happened to somebody close to me.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] A close personal friend is shown free energy and antigravity technologies, among others; and another close friend had free energy technology demonstrated
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 1980-1990s
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] Those incidents are two of many that demonstrate that the free energy suppression issue is very real, but were witnessed by people close to me.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] The world reaches Peak Oil
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 2006
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] The beginning of the end of industrial civilization.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is history's largest
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 2010
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] More evidence of how dangerous humanity's current energy production methods are.
[/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 324"] The Fukushima nuclear event is probably history's greatest
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 237"] 2011
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 309"] More evidence of how dangerous humanity's current energy production methods are.
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[/TABLE]

The table below presents an abbreviated geologic time scale, with times and events germane to this essay. Please refer to a complete geologic time scale when this one seems inadequate.

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[align=center]Abbreviated Geologic Time Scale

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Eon

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Period

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Epoch

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Timeframe

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Global Map Reconstruction

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Geophysical events

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Life events

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[TD="class: Normal, width: 103"] Hadean
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] [/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 4.56 to 4.0 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] No land masses yet.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Earth, Moon, and oceans form. Earth is bombarded with planetesimals. Everything is hot. Atmosphere is primarily comprised of carbon dioxide.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] None yet.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 103"] Archaean
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] 4.0 to 2.5 bya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Too much uncertainty and too little evidence to confidently draw maps, but landmasses existed.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] By the Archaean's end, the Sun is 80% as bright as today. Earth cools to habitable temperature. Continents begin forming and growing. Atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, but oxygen begins to increase. First known glaciation.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] First life appears. Photosynthesis begins. All life is bacterial. Oxygenic photosynthesis first appears.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 103"] Proterozoic
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] [/TD]
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 2.5 bya to 541 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Maps begin to be made with confidence at about 750 mya.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Earth's two Snowball Earth events (1, 2) bookend the "boring billion years." Banded iron formations coincide with ice ages.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Complex cell (eukaryote) first appears. Aerobic respiration first appears. First chloroplast appears. Sexual reproduction first appears. Grazing of photosynthetic organisms first appears.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Cryogenian
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 850 to 635 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Late Cryogenian Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Supercontinent Rodinia breaks up. Second Snowball Earth event. Atmosphere oxygenated to near modern levels. Final banded iron formations appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] First animals appear. First land plants may have appeared.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Ediacaran
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 635 to 541 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Mid-Ediacaran Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Deep ocean is oxygenated. Proto-Tethys Ocean appears.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Mass extinction of microscopic eukaryotes. First large animals appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 103"] Phanerozoic
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Cambrian
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 541 to 485 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Late Cambrian Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Continents primarily in Southern Hemisphere. Oceans are hot.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] First mass diversification of complex life. Most modern phyla appear. First eyes develop. Arthropods dominate biomes.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Ordovician
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 485 to 443 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Late Ordovician Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Paleo-Tethys Ocean begins forming. Ice age begins and causes mass extinction which ends period.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Complex life continues diversifying. First large reefs appear. Mollusks proliferate and diversify. Nautiloids are apex predators. First fossils of land plants recovered from Ordovician sediments. Period ends with first great mass extinction of complex life.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Silurian
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 443 to 419 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Mid-Silurian Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Hot, shallow seas dominate biomes. Climate and sea level changes cause minor extinctions.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Reefs recover and expand. Fish begin to develop jaws. First invasions of land by animals. First vascular plants appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Devonian
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 419 to 359 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Late Devonian Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Continents closing to form Pangaea, ice age begins at end of Devonian and cause mass extinction, possibly initiated by first forests sequestering carbon.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Fishes thrive. First forests appear. First vertebrates invade land.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Carboniferous
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 359 to 299 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Early Carboniferous Map
End-Carboniferous Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Atmospheric oxygen levels highest ever, likely due to carbon sequestration by coal swamps. Ice age increases in extent, causing collapse of rainforest.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Sharks thrive. Gigantic land arthropods. First permanent land colonization by vertebrates. Amphibians thrive. Reptiles appear. Rainforests and swamps proliferate, forming most of Earth's coal deposits. Fungus appears that digests lignin.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Permian
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 299 to 252 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Late Permian Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Tethys Ocean forms. Oxygen levels drop. Great mountain-building and volcanism as Pangaea forms, and its formation initiates the greatest mass extinction in eon of complex life. Ice age ends.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Synapsid reptiles dominate land. Conifer forests first appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Triassic
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 252 to 201 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Mid-Triassic Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Pangaea begins to break up. Greenhouse Earth begins and lasts the entire Mesozoic Era.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Dinosaurs and mammals appear, and by the Triassic's end, diapsid reptiles dominate land, sea, and air. Stony corals appear as reefs slowly recover.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Jurassic
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 201 to 145 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Early Jurassic Map
Mid-Jurassic Map
Late Jurassic Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Northern continents split from southern continents. Atlantic Ocean begins to form.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Dinosaurs become gigantic. First birds appear.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Cretaceous
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] [/TD]
[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 145 to 66 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Mid-Cretaceous Map
End-Cretaceous Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Sea levels dramatically rise. Continents continue to separate. Asteroid impact drives non-bird dinosaurs extinct and ends the Mesozoic Era.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Flowers first appear. Chewing dinosaurs become prominent. Forests near the poles. Rudist bivalves displace coral reefs, but go extinct before the end-Cretaceous extinction.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Paleogene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] Paleocene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 66 to 56 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Paleocene Climate Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Greenhouse Earth conditions still prevail, and an anomalous warming occurred to end the epoch.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Mammals grow and diversify to fill empty niches left behind by reptiles.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] Eocene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 56 to 34 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Mid-Eocene Map
Late Eocene Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Warmest epoch in hundreds of millions of years, but began cooling midway into epoch, beginning Icehouse Earth conditions. Europe collides with Asia, and Asian mammals displace European mammals.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] A Golden Age of Life on Earth, when life thrived all the way to the poles. Whales appear. Cooling in Late Eocene drives warm-climate species to extinction.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] Oligocene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 34 to 23 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Oligocene Climate Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Cool epoch, as Antarctic ice sheets form, with warming at epoch's end.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] Early whales die out, replaced by whales adapted to new ocean biomes.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 120"] Neogene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] Miocene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 23 to 5.3 mya
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] Mid-Miocene Map
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 172"] First half of epoch is warm, then cools down.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 137"] First half of epoch is warm, and called The Golden Age of Mammals. Apes appear and spread throughout Africa and Eurasia. Apes migrate back to Africa in cooling, while some remain in Southeast Asia.
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 97"] Pliocene
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[TD="class: Normal, width: 152"] c. 5.3 to 2.6 mya
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